{{Short description|Canadian dancer, choreographer and archivist}} {{Infobox artist |name = Miriam Adams |image = Miriam Adams BW 2018.jpg |image_size = |caption = Photo/Liliana Reyes |birth_name = Miriam Elaine Adams (née Weinstein) |birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|01|29}} |birth_place = Toronto, Ontario, Canada |field = {{plainlist| *Dancer *Choreographer *Archivist *Publisher }} |movement = {{plainlist| *Ballet *Modern/Contemporary dance}} }} '''Miriam Elaine Adams''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|CM}} (née Weinstein; born January 29, 1944) is a dancer, choreographer, and dance archivist from Toronto.<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams">{{cite web|title=Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams|url=http://artsalive.ca/en/dan/meet/bios/artistDetail.asp?artistID=79|website=National Arts Centre: Dance|publisher=Arts Alive Canada|accessdate=1 April 2016}}</ref> After performing with the National Ballet of Canada, she co-founded 15 Dance Laboratorium with her husband Lawrence Adams. It was the first theatre to present experimental dance in Toronto. In 1983, Miriam and Lawrence launched ''Encore! Encore!'' to document the works of six Canadian choreographers from the 1940s and 1950s, and in 1986 they launched a centre for archiving dance and publishing books called Arts Inter-Media Canada/Dance Collection Danse (DCD).
==Early life and training==
Miriam Adams was born in Toronto on January 29, 1944. She studied with Betty Oliphant and became a student at the National Ballet School in 1960,<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams" /> graduating in 1963.<ref name="GMOnToronto">{{Cite web |last=Schabas |first=Martha |date=2016-07-29 |title=On Toronto's Church Street, discover a hidden history of Canadian dance |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/on-torontos-church-street-discover-a-hidden-history-of-canadian-dance/article31201810/ |access-date=2020-10-16 |website=The Globe and Mail}}</ref>
==Early career and 15 Dance Lab==
From 1963 to 1969, Adams performed with the National Ballet of Canada<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams" /> as a member of the corps de ballet.<ref name="GMOnToronto" /> While there she met her husband, principal dancer Lawrence Adams.<ref name=CEMA>{{cite web | url =http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/lawrence-and-miriam-adams/ | title =Lawrence and Miriam Adams | last =Crabb | first =Michael | date =April 3, 2015 | website = The Canadian Encyclopedia | publisher =Historica Canada | access-date =April 1, 2016}}</ref>
After leaving the National Ballet of Canada, Adams taught at the Lois Smith School of Dance. In 1972, Adams and Lawrence formed a dance company called 15 Dancers<ref name=CEMA /> which evolved into 15 Dance Lab, a 41-seat studio theatre in Toronto,<ref name=TorStarSwanSong >{{Citation | last = Littler | first = William | title =Swan Song for Fifteen Dance Lab | newspaper = The Toronto Star | pages = H5 | date = May 31, 1980 }}</ref> and the first to present experimental dance in Toronto.<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams" /> The Adamses wanted to avoid the hierarchical structures experienced in ballet companies and instead promoted the independence of dancers representing various styles of dance.<ref name="LindgrenRoss2015">{{cite book|author1=Allana Lindgren|author2=Stephen Ross|title=The Modernist World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFvLCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA536|date=5 June 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-69616-2|pages=536–}}</ref> In 1974, Adams and Lawrence incorporated 15 Dance Lab as a not-for-profit charitable organisation.<ref name=CEDCD>{{cite web | url =http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/dance-collection-danse/ | title =Dance Collection Danse | last =Crabb | first =Michael | date =June 13, 2014 | website = The Canadian Encyclopedia | publisher =Historica Canada | access-date =April 1, 2016}}</ref> They received various grants for their organisation which allowed them to pay artists 80% of the box office revenue, plus a fee for performances.<ref name=TorStarSwanSong />
==Choreographic works==
Adams' choreographic works contained humour, parody and satire of current events.<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams" /> Her first choreographic piece with 15 Dancers was, ''ode to yogurt'' on June 13, 1972.<ref name="SaxtonCornell1998">{{cite book|author1=Nadine Saxton|author2=Katherine Cornell|title=Toronto Dance Theatre 1968-1998: Stages in a Journey|url=https://archive.org/details/torontodancethea0000saxt|url-access=registration|year=1998|publisher=Captus Press|isbn=978-1-895712-21-6|pages=[https://archive.org/details/torontodancethea0000saxt/page/75 75]–}}</ref> She choreographed ''Another Nutcracker'' in 1973, which parodied ''The Nutcracker''. In 1975 she satirised the defection of Mikhail Baryshnikov from the Soviet Union in a video called ''Sonovovitch''.<ref name="Meet the Artists: Miriam Adams" />
In 1990, Adams choreographed and composed the score for ''So What’s This Got To Do With God Already?'' for Inde / 90 at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre, a humorous perspective of Jewish culture featuring modern dance, ballet, ballroom, and basketball movements.<ref name=GMInde90>{{Citation | last = Kelly| first = Deirdre| title = Inde 90 fires three hits and a miss| newspaper = The Globe and Mail| pages = C10 | date = March 24, 1990 }}</ref>
==Publishing and archiving==
From 1976 to 1978, Adams and Lawrence published the tabloid ''Spill'', edited by Elizabeth Chitty. In 1979, they published a dance photography book with visual artist Lynn Rotin entitled ''Photographs Dance''.<ref name="G&MFounders">{{Cite news |date=1980-11-22 |title=BACKSTAGE Dance Lab founders honoured by Ontario |page=E7 |work=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> From 1980 to 1983, they published a monthly newspaper called ''Canadian Dance News''.<ref name=CEMA /><ref name="GMOnToronto" /> During this time Adams also worked as a conference and special projects coordinator for the Dance in Canada Association.<ref name=CEMA />
In 1983, Adams and her husband created ''Encore! Encore!'' to reconstruct dances by six choreographers from the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name=CEMA /> Former dancers, choreographers and notators assisted to reconstruct, videotape and record these works through dance notation. The couple chose works whose choreography, costumes and musical scores were created in Canada and performed by Canadian dancers.<ref name=TorStarPriPres>{{Citation | last = Walker | first = Susan | title = Pirouette Preservation | newspaper = The Toronto Star | pages = H5 | date = September 23, 2006 }}</ref> The choreographers were Gweneth Lloyd of Winnipeg, Jeanne Renaud and Françoise Sullivan of Montreal, Nesta Toumine of Ottawa, and Boris Volkoff and Nancy Lima Dent of Toronto.<ref name=GMKnight>{{Citation | last = Citron | first = Paula | title = A knight errant in defence of dance | newspaper = The Globe and Mail | pages = R7 | date = March 10, 2003 }}</ref> The couple worked with Lawrence's brother, David Adams, to reconstruct Boris Volkoff’s ''The Red Ear of Corn''.<ref name="CraineMackrell2010">{{cite book|author1=Debra Craine|author2=Judith Mackrell|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Dance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42g8Hp-xA48C&pg=PA3|date=19 August 2010|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-956344-9|pages=3–}}</ref> Their production, ''There's Always Been Dance'' incorporated excerpts and images of these reconstructed works and was performed in Vancouver at Expo 86.<ref name=CEMA />
In 1986, Adams and Lawrence created the Encore! Dance Hall of Fame to honour Canadian dancers and choreographers.<ref name="G&MDancehalloffame">{{Cite web |last=Wheeler |first=Brad |date=2018-02-20 |title=Miriam Adams helps resurrect dance hall of fame |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/miriam-adams-helps-resurrect-dance-hall-of-fame/article38027620/ |access-date=2020-10-16 |website=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> They also renamed their organisation Arts Inter-Media Canada / Dance Collection Danse (DCD), establishing it as an archive, museum and publisher.<ref name=CEDCD /> The first iteration of the archives was hosted in the Adams' home.<ref name="GMOnToronto" /> DCD published over 40 books, including a bilingual ''Encyclopedia of Theatre Dance in Canada''.<ref name=CEMA />
Adams acted as its director until 2019, remaining part of the organisation as co-founder and advisor.<ref name="DanceOntarioLeadership">{{Cite web |date=2019-04-04 |title=Dance Collection Danse (DCD) Leadership Change |url=https://www.danceontario.ca/news-detail/dance-collection-danse-dcd-leadership-change |access-date=2020-10-16 |website=Dance Ontario}}</ref>
==Personal life==
Adams married Lawrence Adams in 1967.<ref name=CEMA />
==Awards==
In 1980, Adams and her husband won the Dance Ontario Award for providing opportunities for independent choreographers to showcase work at 15 Dance Lab.<ref name="G&MFounders" /> *Dance in Canada Service Award, 1988 *Medal of Service, City of Toronto, 1992 *Rita Davies and Margo Bindhardt Cultural Leadership Award, 2009 *Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012 *Ken McCarter Award for Distinguished National Ballet School Alumni, 2021
In 2011, Adams was named a member of the Order of Canada for "contributions to preserving and popularising Canadian dance history."<ref name=CEMA /><ref name="OC National Post">{{cite web|title=Paul Martin named Companion of the Order of Canada|url=https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/paul-martin-named-companion-of-the-order-of-canada|website=National Post|access-date=1 April 2016}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Miriam}} Category:1944 births Category:Canadian ballerinas Category:20th-century Canadian ballet dancers Category:Canadian choreographers Category:20th-century Canadian dancers Category:Living people Category:Members of the Order of Canada Category:Dancers from Toronto Category:Canadian women choreographers